Birch Aquarium, San Diego

A few weeks ago we went to the Birch Aquarium in San Diego. It was a lovely excursion and a great retreat from the scorching summer heat. And, we went for free. That’s right, it was free – more on that later.

The Birch Aquarium in La Jolla has a lot of interactive learning centers throughout the facility. All of the toddlers and younger kids were enthralled by the exhibits. Some were about how sustainable energy created, simulating water, solar, and wind power generation. Also, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I thought they were pretty cool too.

The Aquarium itself is a lot smaller than the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but they still have a kelp forest, and lots of tropical fish that I don’t recall seeing in Monterey. There are even sharks for those who love them.

Now, you must be dying to know how we got in for free. One of my favorite travel tips or hacks, includes looking into what perks your credit card/bank provides for you just for being a customer. We were able to get free tickets to the Aquarium thanks to Bank of America’s Museums on Us deal.

All we had to do was show our card at the ticket booth and we got free tickets. The only catch is that you can only go on the first weekend of every month, and they are only available for select museums. If you want to learn more, you can visit their website here to see which museums are participating!

Even if you end up paying full price admission to the Birch Aquarium, it is definitely worth your time, and I can’t recommend it enough especially if you have young kids.